


Red Strings

by skadren



Series: reincarnation au [3]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: (but i guess that's subjective), Bad Ending, Body Modification, Dubious Consent, M/M, Partial Mind Control, Puppet Cloud Strife, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-02 23:42:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19451917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skadren/pseuds/skadren
Summary: Sephiroth makes a different choice.alternate (bad?) end to welcome to the circus, diverges around the beginning of ch 11





	1. Chapter 1

Sephiroth can feel his rage, simmering over these past two weeks, boiling higher and higher and higher, until everything just—snaps.

And suddenly, he feels very, very calm.

JENOVA’s eye gleams in triumph, as if she has already won. _yes, sephiroth, very good. feel your rage at this cruel, unjust planet build and build. join Me again, My son, and you will regain all you desire. once We succeed, there is nothing the planet could deny her masters._

A vague part of him notes Vincent arriving, a silent shadow as always, darting around him and JENOVA as he retrieves the three fallen SOLDIERs, carefully helping them out of the way, but he’s too busy thinking—

What JENOVA says is true. How easy it would be to set everything aflame, turn the world to ash, devastate the Planet as easily as she had devastated him with a single stroke of a sword. And once he has gained control of the Lifestream, who could stop him from reaching in and plucking Cloud back out? Then they really could live together somewhere quiet, somewhere peaceful. They wouldn’t have to fight. They’d be happy together.

Just a simple tweak in his mind here or there, and he’d be as agreeable as anything. Sephiroth’s own puppet. Cloud loves him, after all. Just the two of them, together forever, Cloud staring up at him with soft, adoring eyes, green and slit just like his own…

Part of him shivers in pleasure at the beautiful image.

“Sephiroth!” a voice calls from behind, breaking him from his thoughts, and he turns in time to see something gold and green and glittering fly from Genesis’s hand, straight at him.

He catches it. It’s Genesis’s materia bracer. A mastered Fire gleams up at him from the only filled slot. He stares at it contemplatively, turning it over and over in his hand as he thinks.

Then he drops it.

JENOVA looks pleased. _you are wise to make this decision, My son. now come, come to your Mother, and We shall reign over the heavens and the earth._

Sephiroth takes one step forward, two. When he stands in front of her monstrous form, she spreads her arms welcomingly, but Sephiroth does not step into them.

_My son?_

“ … When I destroy the Planet,” Sephiroth says to her, “it will be of my _own_ accord. Not yours. But your power, JENOVA… ”

He draws his sword.

“Allow me to partake of it.”

-

Zack watches in horror as Sephiroth plunges his blade into JENOVA’s chest and rips it open, exposing some radioactive-green core inside of her. With a rough jerk, he tears it out, and it drips viscous, translucent fluid all over his hand.

JENOVA shrieks.

To Zack’s shock, Sephiroth brings JENOVA’s—heart?—up to his mouth and takes a large bite out of it, then another, until it is all gone. Slick juice oozes down his chin, and he swipes it away nonchalantly.

For a beat, nothing happens, then JENOVA’s hollow corpse crumbles to dust, and Sephiroth turns to the rest of them, eyes glowing jewel-bright like emerald stars against his dark, terrible expression.

“S… Seph?” Zack says tentatively. “You can… you can stop now. She’s gone now, isn’t she?”

Sephiroth just laughs harshly. “I said,” he says, quiet and deadly, “that I would not destroy the Planet for JENOVA. I never said I would not do it of my own accord.”

“No,” Zack says numbly. “No, you can’t, Cloud—”

“Is not here,” Sephiroth says. “Without him, who could even try to stop me?”

Angeal’s jaw firms. “We will. We will band together, and perhaps we will not succeed, but we will still try.”

Sephiroth’s eyes narrow. “You would defend the Planet, the corrupt entity that is responsible for killing your dear friend? My heart hungers for vengeance. And it will not be sated until the Planet has atoned for her actions. Step aside, Zackary. Angeal. Genesis. You have nothing to do with my dispute with the Planet. For the sake of our friendship, I am willing to let you go.”

Zack feels like he wants to cry as he shakes his head. “Cloud wouldn’t want this. He only wanted you to be happy, Seph. Are you happy like this?”

Sephiroth laughs harshly. “I am not like him, able to mourn in silence while missing my other half. Without him, how could I ever be happy? All I can do is whet my blade on my vengeance, and hope that this jagged, burning, all-consuming anguish might fade to mere emptiness. _Step aside.”_

Genesis steps forward. “I will not. Cloud may not be here, but that simply means we must knock sense into you in his stead. The duty to protect the Planet and her life falls not only on his shoulders, but the rest of ours as well.”

Angeal steps forward as well, standing at Genesis’s side. “I understand your rage and your grief, Sephiroth. But this is not the honorable way to deal with it.”

“Please,” Zack says. “Seph, please… I can’t stand by and watch you hurt millions of innocent people again. But…”

“But nothing,” Sephiroth says. “I see you have all made your choice. Very well.”

He raises his sword again.

It’s over quickly.

-

When Gaia pits Cloud against Sephiroth, her final resort, the battle destroys what little life is left on the Planet’s desolate surface.

Cloud is uncoordinated, unused to suddenly having his body back after such a long time, heartbroken tears blurring his vision, but Sephiroth—

With JENOVA’s full power finally at his beck and call, he is a veritable god in his own right, able to bend reality to his will. All it takes is a lucky swing that sends Cloud sprawling onto his back, and then Sephiroth is looming over him, pinning all four limbs in place.

Cloud’s fate is sealed with an all-consuming kiss.

-

Cloud stirs awake slowly, feeling like he’s digging his way to awareness from beneath layers of thick mud. He lies on something unbelievably soft and warm, and it almost drags him back to sleep, but something is niggling in the back of his mind—

“Sephiroth!” Cloud gasps, eyes shooting open. He tries to sit up, but something firm wrapped around his torso keeps him from rising.

Tucked behind him, a strong chest rumbles with a familiar chuckle. “You’re awake.”

Cloud squirms, wriggling around in Sephiroth’s grasp to face him. “Sephiroth?”

He smiles, green gaze fond, and tucks a stray piece of Cloud’s hair back behind his ear. “As much as I love the way my name sounds as it falls from your lips, is that truly the only thing you have to say after all this time?”

Cloud frowns. “After all this—what do you mean?”

“You’ve been asleep for a very long time, Cloud,” Sephiroth says. “The Planet kept you hidden from me in her selfishness, but she should have known that I would find you, no matter where you were.”

“I—the Planet?” Cloud frowns harder, trying to remember. Suddenly, everything clicks. “Oh—she kept putting me to sleep, and I—I couldn’t get back to you, no matter how hard I tried. I’m sorry I left you alone for so long, Sephiroth.”

Sephiroth sighs and tugs him closer. “You’re here now. That’s what matters.”

Cloud buries himself closer, relishing in the embrace for just a bit longer. Then he asks, “So—what happened with JENOVA?”

Sephiroth’s arms tighten briefly. “JENOVA is… taken care of. She will bother us no more.”

“That’s good,” Cloud says with no little relief. “What about the others? Are they all safe?”

“JENOVA did not harm them significantly.”

“We should go see them,” Cloud says. “I’m sure they’ll want to know I’m awake—Tifa would definitely punch me through a wall if she knew I didn’t tell her right away—”

Above him, he can feel Sephiroth shake his head. “I told you, you’ve been asleep for a long time. A very long time. Your friends have all already passed.”

“ … What?” Cloud says, suddenly feeling numb. “They’re all…”

“They are no longer among the living,” Sephiroth confirms.

“It’s… it’s really been that long?” Cloud tugs against Sephiroth’s arms. “What about Genesis and Vincent? Let go for a sec, I have to—”

Suddenly, Sephiroth’s grasp feels like steel bars against his back. “You would leave me so soon after our Reunion?”

Cloud freezes. Something about the way he says… “Reunion?”

"Yes," Sephiroth says. "Reunion." He caresses Cloud's cheek, just the barest touch of fingers, and a strange, tingling warmth emanates from where he makes contact.

The beginnings of dread creep up in Cloud's chest, but they're quickly swallowed by the quickly-spreading warmth, and suddenly Cloud feels floaty. Detached. He can't move, but the alarm he should be feeling doesn't well up. Instead, he feels himself sigh and lean into Sephiroth's touch, soaking in his attention like a sunflower attuned to the sun.

Sephiroth makes a pleased humming noise, and Cloud's heart leaps at the sound. "As I thought," Sephiroth says. "It's a beautiful sight." Somehow sensing Cloud's confusion at the statement, he smiles. "Take a look for yourself, love."

He sits up, tugging Cloud's unresisting body along with him, and turns Cloud's chin to face a large mirror that stretches from floor to ceiling. Cloud blinks at their reflection, his fogged mind taking a moment to process it, and then he sees—

Sephiroth, fingers curled possessively around Cloud's face and waist. Cloud himself, curled up contently in his embrace, almost limp and doll-like in his compliance. And staring out of his own face, bright green eyes with eerily slit pupils. Sephiroth's eyes.

Something about that sets alarm bells ringing through Cloud's brain, shattering his warm daze, and the panic barrels into him with such force he feels lightheaded. And yet, he still—can't _move—_

"W-what… Sephiroth, what have you _done?"_

Sephiroth strokes his cheek comfortingly, sending more heated shivers wracking throughout Cloud's entire body. “What was deserved. No more, no less.”

"The Planet—”

"You needn't worry about the Planet anymore, Cloud."

“People depend on her, Sephiroth,” Cloud says, desperate and disbelieving all at once. “They need her to live.”

“Fear not, Cloud,” Sephiroth says, “for I am a god, and gods have no need for the Planet. And now that you are truly mine, body _and_ soul, you are not constrained by mortal bounds, either.”

“But—”

“These things are unworthy of your notice, Cloud. You should just put them out of mind.”

“But,” Cloud says again, but the floaty haze is returning, and suddenly, his worries seem very distant. He doesn’t—he doesn’t…

What had he been thinking about, again?

“Good boy,” Sephiroth purrs, and every cell in Cloud’s body hums, rejoicing at his praise. Whatever had been on his mind must not have been important, especially not in the face of _Sephiroth._ Why would he worry about anything when Sephiroth is here?

 _(No,_ some distant part of him screams, but he shakes his head, disoriented, and it quickly fades.)

 _“Sephiroth,”_ he breathes, awed that he has somehow caught the attention of this beautiful, magnificent _god,_ and Sephiroth’s eyes glint, pleased.

He tugs Cloud up into a searing kiss, and Cloud shivers in delight as heat burns through his body, mouth falling open with a needy moan. Having Sephiroth’s full attention on him like this is—so good, so right, like Cloud’s entire purpose in life has suddenly been fulfilled—

As Cloud quivers underneath his god’s hands, taken apart and pieced back together by his will, he finally feels complete, skin filled to bursting with happiness.

He could stay like this forever.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i thought i was done with this but… oops my hand slipped

Cloud doesn’t know how long it’s been, his time in this palace in the sky.

Sometimes, Sephiroth leaves, and something like _fearpanicworry,_ an inherent sense of wrongness, filters through his bliss, but it’s quickly overrun by a tingling, prickling heat, an unscratchable itch beneath his skin, an overwhelming, encompassing _need_ for Sephiroth—his touch, his attention, _anything._ When they’re apart, he can’t focus on anything but the desperate, burning way his body cries to be taken by Sephiroth in every way possible, clarity only returning when he’s safely back in Sephiroth’s arms.

Sometimes, when Sephiroth is gone, Cloud thinks he feels hate, frustration, anger, and he can’t for the life of him figure out _why,_ not when he is so happy up here with his _master,_ his _god._

Cloud’s only left once, venturing out in a dream-filled daze, Sephiroth just barely returning in time to stop him from stepping straight out into a carpet of clouds and thin air.

But the events of that day are blurry; he doesn’t know why he tried to leave. The only thing Cloud remembers clearly is the sharp taste of Sephiroth’s panic, stark and bitter against the back of his tongue. Their lovemaking that night—and perhaps the rest of the week? time passes strangely, here—had been deliciously ferocious, dark finger-shaped bruises lingering on Cloud’s hips for days. Cloud hadn’t been able to think of much else for quite a while after that. Even now, the memory makes him shiver pleasantly.

Wrapped tightly around him, Sephiroth feels his slight movement. “What are you thinking so hard about, my love?”

“The time you saved me from falling out of the sky.”

Sephiroth tenses slightly. “Oh? What about it?”

“The way we… you…” Cloud trails off, cheeks warming. “I liked how you treated me, after. You usually aren’t so rough.”

“ … So that’s what it is,” Sephiroth says after a pause. Then he chuckles. “No need to be embarrassed. If you liked it so much, we can do it again. We have all the time in the world, after all.”

“I’m sorry I brought it up,” Cloud says. “You don’t like thinking about it, do you?”

Sephiroth sighs. “I was worried. I almost lost you.” He strokes Cloud’s back contemplatively, running a long finger up and down Cloud’s spine, and Cloud makes a soft, pleased sound as his skin heats quickly at the touch. “You know what I should do? I should give you wings, so even if you fall, you’ll come back to me. How would you like that, hm? A pair of wings to match mine?”

_“Oh,”_ Cloud says, a spark of arousal shooting through him at the thought, and Sephiroth chuckles again.

“Of course you like that. You’d be lovely with some soft white ones, I think. Like an angel.”

Cloud hums in assent, content with anything Sephiroth suggests, and tries to tuck himself closer, but Sephiroth flips him onto his stomach instead, saying, “Why don’t we get started now?”

Cloud doesn't need much preparation, not anymore, but Sephiroth always takes great care to finger him loose and open, indulging in the broken noises of pleasure that fall freely from his mouth. It’s common for him to bring Cloud to climax two or three times with only his hands and mouth, so Cloud makes a confused sound of disappointment when Sephiroth’s fingers slide out right when he is on the cusp of coming.

“Don’t fret, love,” Sephiroth says, lifting him by the hips and settling him on his lap. “I don’t want to wear you out too early. We must follow a different routine if we are to give you wings tonight.”

_“Nhh—!”_ is Cloud’s only response, punched from his chest as Sephiroth eases him onto his cock. No matter how many times they do this, Sephiroth always feels so large as he spreads him open, and Cloud moans long and full when he bottoms out.

Sephiroth grinds up, hard and deliberate, targeting that spot deep inside, and Cloud’s nerves light up like fireworks. He falls apart, spread out for the taking, and Sephiroth takes and takes, unrelenting in his firm, methodical assault on Cloud’s prostate. It’s so good—so much—

“Come for me,” Sephiroth breathes, and, ever helpless in the face of his god, Cloud _shatters._

The familiar warmth of Sephiroth’s seed spreads inside him, driving his orgasm higher and higher, but suddenly it intensifies into a sharp heat that just doesn’t stop—

Cloud’s mouth falls open in a wordless scream as he never comes down from his climax, pleasure climbing higher and higher, every cell in his body burning hotter and hotter until he hovers on the knife’s edge of excruciating pain and he can’t think can’t breathe can’t—he _can’t—_

Something large—two of them, one right after the other—bursts from Cloud’s back, warm and slick with blood, and Cloud collapses, panting raggedly as the heat finally begins to dissipate.

He’s limp and insensate as Sephiroth carries him to the bathroom, only vaguely conscious of being settled into a tub of warm water and washed clean of blood and semen before being dried with a soft, fluffy towel. Sometime after that, they end up back on the bed, where the soothing feeling of Sephiroth running his fingers through his feathers gradually draws Cloud back to awareness. Each stroke over the sensitive new limbs sends a warm curl of pleasure through him, but he’s much too worn out to get aroused again. Instead, he just leans back contentedly against Sephiroth’s chest.

“How do you feel?” Sephiroth asks lowly, as if afraid of disturbing his rest.

Cloud simply hums, unable to muster the energy to form words.

“Cloud?” Sephiroth is starting to sound a bit worried, though, so Cloud blinks his eyes open and presses a soft kiss to his jaw.

“Just tired,” he says. “I’ll be fine.”

Sephiroth nods, pleased. He turns them to face the tall mirror by their bed. “Would you like to see?”

As always, whenever Cloud catches sight of his reflection, his gaze is instantly drawn to the bright green of his eyes, the slit pupils. He doesn't know why it startles him so much each time—he's always had Sephiroth's eyes. After all, he's always been Sephiroth's.

He tears his gaze away from his eyes to admire the graceful arch of his new wings, soft and light against his back. They flutter slightly, as if shy, and Sephiroth laughs fondly, twining his own wing with Cloud's, their feathers settling against each other in a starkly beautiful contrast of black and white. Like this, he really looks like—

_(a songbird trapped in a glass castle)_

—he belongs to Sephiroth.

"You're beautiful, my angel. Now, no matter how far you go, you’ll be able to find your way back to me," Sephiroth says, just as transfixed with the image of their intertwined bodies as Cloud is. "But…" A familiar bitterness spreads on the back of Cloud’s tongue again as Sephiroth reaches up, gently brushing away the lone tear that slips down Cloud's face. "Why are you crying?"

Cloud slowly reaches up as well, placing his hand over Sephiroth’s. "I…" His voice cracks. Unable to bear looking at their reflection any longer, he turns away, burying his face into the crook of Sephiroth's neck. "I'm just—so happy."

(They both know it's a lie.)

**Author's Note:**

> [GAME OVER]  
> → [continue?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19011835/chapters/46069639)


End file.
